Alfredo Muccino at PINCshow + Free Stuff!!!
Give Print a Chance!
Last Friday I had the pleasure to be the keynote speaker at the PINCshow - the annual gathering of the Printing Industries of Northern California. Liquid Agency was hired to design this year’s logo and marketing materials…based on a 60’s theme. I worked closely with Z (our senior designer on this project) and we developed a heart shaped logo featuring the words “Peace. Love. Print.”…and with a drip of ink falling from the bottom of the heart. I titled the keynote address “Give Print a Chance”…and spoke about the need for the industry to rally around the idea of collaboration, innovation, uniqueness and quality. The presentation was interrupted by a group of young students carrying colorful protest signs, chanting “Give print a chance!”. OK…the truth is that we planned this it as a bit of subversive distraction to add a little fun to the proceedings…and it did get a few laughs. The PINCshow was attended by over 1,000 people…and indication that the printing community is alive and well in Northern California. To see more photos, just click on this link: PINCphotos.
So, what about the FREE STUFF?
By the way we have a few of these collectible buttons…so, if you like buttons and want one of these, just drop me a note and I’ll send it to you. We also have a few of the limited edition posters we created for the show. Again, drop me a note and I’ll be glad to send you a signed copy.
Photos:
A. The poster being carefully printed by the craftsmen at Curry Graphics.
B. This image graced the cover of the PINCshow program.
C. A photo of me trying to look like a politician - an Italian one :). Photo by Greg Habiby
D. Our colorful student protesters having fun with their crazy posters.
Ciao!
Alfredo Muccino
Chief Creative Officer
Liquid Agency
alfredo@liquidagency.com
We did it.
Putting together the Liquid Brand Summit is no easy task. It takes us months to pull it off…deciding on the session topics, recruiting session leaders, attracting over 100 brand marketers from tech companies, lining up speakers and moderators…etc. However, we did it and were able to pull it off without a hitch. PHEEEWWW!!!!
The event was a lot of fun…with plenty of brilliant people on hand generating lots of stimulating conversations. Now, we’re working on organizing and editing the findings..and soon we’ll publish the Best Practices Report. We’ll also post some videos and tons of photos that we took during the day.
In the meanwhile, please check out the article in Forbes.com:
If any of the participants are reading this blog and would like to comment…please feel free to do so.
I’d love to get your feedback.
Ciao!
Alfredo
Comments are off for this postThe CES2008 Branding Report is out!
If you were not at CES, and you want to take a look at some of the booths and read our notes about what we thought was cool and what was not that great, then you should download our CES2008 Branding Report. It is 25 pages choke full of commentary and photos. Here are a few to wet your appetite. A: This is a photo of the now infamous D-Link girls (We warn you that we don’t have any photos of the D-Link booth!). B: Here’s a picture of Alfredo Muccino, our Chief Creative Officer trying out a pair of video glasses. He’s now a big fan of this technology…and has not taken the glasses off in a week. C: This is an new item we discovered at CES. Not just a phone, but a life-size device that comes with you wherever you go. Meet the new phone-buddy!
Seriously…the report has been very well received by the folks that are on on our mailing list. So you may want to check it out. It’s available through our website - just download the PDF. It’s a lot safer than going to Las Vegas!
Comments are off for this postWhat happens at CES…
What happens at CES…does not stay in Las Vegas.
This year’s show attracted more than 130,000 attendees. The city of Las Vegas was inundated with techno-geeks from all over the world, showing off their new products and drooling over the latest gadgets. Getting a cab was a nightmare…and every restaurant was booked.
But all of this tells us that the technology sector is healthy - and people’s appetite for tech products is still strong.
The convention floor featured venerable tech brands alongside newcomers that are giving established brands a run for their money.
The level of activity - from deal-making to entertainment were as hectic as ever, with each company vying for attention in a very crowded environment. Standing out at CES is no easy feat.
We’re putting together our annual CES Report, with photos of booths and other branding activities that we observed while cruising the show floor. So, stay tuned…and we’ll post it on our site over the next few days.
No commentsSave up to $200 with the Early Bird rate for the Liquid Brand Summit 2008!
Last week we launched the Liquid Brand Summit site…and we’ve opened up the registration process by offering a discounted Early Bird rate to anyone that signs up by December 15th.
The Early Bird rate represents a savings of up to $200 off the Late Registration fee (which is $850). So, if you want to attend, sign up fast!
Check out the site: www.liquidbrandsummit.com
No commentsMergers and Acquisitions: A Brand Perspective
A group from Liquid just returned from attending the Silicon Valley Brand Forum held on October 16, 2007 at Microsoft in Mountain View. The theme discussed by a group of experienced panelists was “Navigating Your Brand Through Mergers and Acquisitions” - a theme that is very appropriate in Silicon Valley, given the number of companies that are growing using M&A strategies. The panelists included Russ Meyer, the Chief Strategy Officer for Landor; Patrick Moran, the Sr. Director of Marketing at WebEx (now part of Cisco); and Jim Rose, The VP of Brand and Global Marketing at Symantec. The moderator was Ron May, the brand guru at UPEK, a leader in fingerprint biometrics whose experience with Mattel, Synopsys, Tandem and Logitech added a great deal of color to the conversation. The event was presented by the Kevin Heney, the founder of the Silicon Valley Brand Forum, a man whose commitment to the practice of branding is exemplary.
The panelists described the M&A process in terms of several distinct phases:
1. Courtship
2. Acquisition
3. Integration
4. Denial (Sometimes)
For the benefit of the company’s long term success, each of these phases can benefit from a brand perspective. Much of the discussion in the first half centered around the considerations behind which name is kept and which is not – and the answer depends on many factors. The panelists urged the audience to consider whether the acquisition was driven by a desire for the acquired company’s products, people, customers…or whether it was simply a way to stop a competitor from buying the company and become more of a competitive threat. Russ Meyer from Landor advocated doing research that helps identify the strengths and weaknesses of each name from the viewpoint of the audiences (customers and other stakeholders). In the words of the Patrick Moran who is still in the midst of the Cisco WebEx acquisition, “It’s all about the business strategyâ€. A statement that was reinforced by Jim Rose from Symantec who added “Brand needs to enable business strategyâ€.
For more information, visit the www.svbrandforum.com – and make a point of trying to attend the next event. They are definitely worthwhile!
1 commentGoogle Hires Advertising Agency Executive
On Wednesday, 9/19, the Wall Street Journal ran an article about Google hiring Andy Berndt, co-president of New York’s Ogilvy and Mather! Google, the 2007 Liquid Agency Brand Impact Awards Brand of The Year (B2C and Overall), has brought Mr. Berndt into the fray as the Managing Director of Googles new Creative Labs Unit. I’m not exactly sure what the Creative Labs unit is, so if anyone know’s please comment on this posting! Is this yet another move towards traditional advertising, will Mr. Berndt be heading up a major advertising effort for Google, or will Google leverage his expertise to help sell more advertising to major advertisers?
No commentsGoogle and Dell co-brand TV advertising
In a prior post, I made an observation about some Google banner ads I had seen in an online forum, and an assertion that it might be the beginning of the end to google’s reputed aversion to traditional advertising. Since that observation I have seen the new TV spot cobranded between Dell and Google. The Ad features the unique looking Google Search appliance as part of a server rack. The appliance is built by Dell, but branded by Google, the story and video can be found here.
Wonder what we’ll see next……
No commentsGoogle Advertising?…
Google, arguably the worlds most impactful brand (it’s a tough argument these days), built this incredible brand without the use of any traditional forms of advertising, nor has Google used many forms of “marketing communications” in general. Until today, I’d never seen a banner ad, like this banner i saw in a forum this morning:
Could it be that Google has abandoned their aversion for advertising, and will we begin to see more outbound marketing communications from this outstanding brand? If/when you find other Google advertising, or interesting competitive advertising please add comments to this post!
No commentsTen Principles of Consumer Generated Advertising Campaigns
I was recently reading Max Kalehoff’s blog about Consumer Generated Advertising Campaigns and really think he hits the nail on the head. Many of his comments echo the outcomes of the module from our Brand Summit moderated by Colin Decker. I encourage you to read it and take heed when thinking about using CGM (Consumer Generated Media) in your next campaign.
Important to note that a CGM campaign must be connected to larger business goals (otherwise why bother?) and that CGM is not necessarily a less costly alternative than traditional production as this avenue can be very resource intensive. Finally, item ten in his list is a big winner in my book. Move from campaign to platform. One of Colin’s points during our session and echoed by Max is that the big mistake marketers make is producing a successful CGM campaign, and not “letting it live.” As Max says, “prepare a platform to facilitate and leverage sustained engagement and brand return.”
What do you think?
2 comments